New generation samsung tvs and linux

[rednus]

ok.. this is going to be a challenge for linux gurus out there....

i have been doing some search (if not research) on internet out there about new generation Samsung televisions.. The new LED and LCD tvs have powerful ARM processors, RJ45 connections or wifi usb connections with some builtin flash memory for os.. and found some confirmation(from the user manuals) that these TVs use Linux, busybox and binutils under GPL and Glibc libusb and SDL under LGPL and libssl under its own..

after some more search found some speculations that it uses STLinux or uClinux and few people said samsung has its own uClinux for ARM.. so did some search on these and found the following links:

1. Source code for some of the TVs can be downloaded here:  http://www.samsung.com/global/opensource/
2. Samsungs own version or ARM uClinux here: http://opensrc.sec.samsung.com/
3. STLinux here: http://www.stlinux.com/
4. Also extract from the manual: "This product uses some software programs which are distributed under the GPL/LGPL license. Accordingly, the following GPL and LGPL software source codes that have been used in this product can be provided after asking to vdswmanager@samsung.com"

now the question is, with the capabilities that tv is already geared to do.. can some gurus make a MCE version of linux for these TVs so that we can forget the media directors all together?

I know, I can do it, if i were only a linux guru I know its not an easy task.. but atleast.. I would try..

[totallymaxed]

ok.. this is going to be a challenge for linux gurus out there....

i have been doing some search (if not research) on internet out there about new generation Samsung televisions.. The new LED and LCD tvs have powerful ARM processors, RJ45 connections or wifi usb connections with some builtin flash memory for os.. and found some confirmation(from the user manuals) that these TVs use Linux, busybox and binutils under GPL and Glibc libusb and SDL under LGPL and libssl under its own..

after some more search found some speculations that it uses STLinux or uClinux and few people said samsung has its own uClinux for ARM.. so did some search on these and found the following links:

1. Source code for some of the TVs can be downloaded here:  http://www.samsung.com/global/opensource/
2. Samsungs own version or ARM uClinux here: http://opensrc.sec.samsung.com/
3. STLinux here: http://www.stlinux.com/
4. Also extract from the manual: "This product uses some software programs which are distributed under the GPL/LGPL license. Accordingly, the following GPL and LGPL software source codes that have been used in this product can be provided after asking to vdswmanager@samsung.com"

now the question is, with the capabilities that tv is already geared to do.. can some gurus make a MCE version of linux for these TVs so that we can forget the media directors all together?

I know, I can do it, if i were only a linux guru I know its not an easy task.. but atleast.. I would try..

The simple answer is...its not that simple! These TV's would have to have enough spare Flash/RAm to run the additional libs/code for the MD/Orbiter and would also have to have enough processor capacity to run this on top of whatever existing Linux based firmware is used already. Baring in mind that these are consumer products I doubt that they have much ram/flash/processor to spare... I could be wrong of course.

A few months back Samsung announced they were planning to ship Adobe's Air/Flash in future TV's...maybe these TV's are in the vanguard of that development...

What are the model numbers for these models by the way?

All the best

Andrew

[rednus]

The simple answer is...its not that simple! These TV's would have to have enough spare Flash/RAm to run the additional libs/code for the MD/Orbiter and would also have to have enough processor capacity to run this on top of whatever existing Linux based firmware is used already. Baring in mind that these are consumer products I doubt that they have much ram/flash/processor to spare... I could be wrong of course.

A few months back Samsung announced they were planning to ship Adobe's Air/Flash in future TV's...maybe these TV's are in the vanguard of that development...

What are the model numbers for these models by the way?

All the best

Andrew

Hi Andrew, I know that it is not straight forward and simple like installing some software on a pc.. there is lot involved when it comes to embedded os modification.. so its not gonna be one day or one week job.. this will be a project on its own..

regarding the capabilities of the system within the tv; the standard firmware has DLNA capability to play 1080p video from network shares, and has the capbility to play iplayer with direct internet connection.. and play tv simultaniously running internet based widgets on screen. AFAIK they use powerful ARM7 or ARM9 processors with built-in hardware video decoders, and ontop runs a uClinux version with binutils and busybox and DLNA software..

onepoint i agree with you is that the memory limitation on board.. some of these boards only have about 512mb ram and 1 or 2gb ROM flash..

i have seen some projects on Sourceforge and freshmeat which are dedicated to create custom software for embedded devices.. such as Network receivers etc.. but none for TVs..

but from our point view the software we need to embed is only the capability to stream video/tv and audio and integrate it into LMCE network.. rest of the capabilities are already there..

Regarding Adobe flash addon, i read in some white paper that this feature is added into the hardware not as software.. I think that was ARM dual core processors for mobile and internet devices I think.. which is due next year..

All production models of UE and LE series on www.samsung.co.uk are linux based.. the 6 and 7 series.. not sure about the 5 series.. but some of these models does not have network interface..

[NikAmi]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they use dedicated hardware decoders so that the computational power of the GPU doesn't have to be as great and its instruction set as robust. This would make it hard to run LMCE's advanced UI and take advantage of the overlaying and transparency effects. Although, more power to you if it can. As others have said, you most likely would not have the requisite Flash/RAM available in the TV to run the software and the TV is most likely not able to boot via PXE. Enabling the TV to boot via PXE to an external flash disk or from a flash disk would most likely require a custom firmware flash which would be a waste of resources given the fact that most people will not have these televisions.

[hari]

I don't need a UI on the screen, I use a tablet based orbiter for that..

br, hari